For you my Love: Peace
by MJ-O'neill
Summary: How I imagined ME3 should have really ended so be warned of spoilers if you haven't finished the game. I'm not used to writing fanfiction, so it may sound a little. . .off. Sorry bout that :p Also edited, I got my stories mixed up. Ha, silly me
1. Chapter 1

Anderson? Anderson stay with me" Shepard gasped, clutching her side which was now covered in blood. Was she dreaming? The past few minutes had seemed like a blur.

"Sh-Shepard. . ." Anderson stuttered, his head slowly rolling to rest upon his shoulder.

"Hang in there Anderson. We're almost. . .through this" she managed, the pain in her body becoming more excrutiating with every word.

"I'm so. . .tired of war" he breathed. "Tired of. . .fighting."

"Just fight one last time Anderson. . .do it for Kahlee."

"Hm, Kahlee" he laughed, choking in the process. "Always wanted to. . .marry that woman from the moment. . .I saw her" he said with a smile.

"Hell. . .I'd vouch for you" Shepard coughed, the edges of mouth slightly grinning.

"What about you. . .Shepard? Ever thought of settling down?"

"I don't know. I guess I've thought about it. . .sure" she breathed, cringing as another wave of pain issued through her side.

"I think. . .you'd make a great mom Shepard. Imagine how proud your kids would be to say that their mom. . .was commander Shepard."

Shepard only smiled. Thoughts of Liara clouded her mind and the promise she had made her back on the Normandy not six months before.

_I need to know you're always coming back_

_I'm always coming back. . ._ she had said, though the words rang hollow on her tongue.

_If this all ends tomorrow, what happens to us?_

_I don't know. Marriage, old age and a lot of little blue children?_

Shepard closed her eyes, tears beginning to sting until they broke past her defense and slowly rolled down her cheek.

"Mom. . .that's a new one" she painfully laughed.

"Has a certain. . .ring to it, doesn't it?" Anderson asked, a twinkle in his eye.

"Yeah. Yeah it does. Anderson? There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while now."

"I'm. . .listening Shepard" he managed, swallowing down another spring of pain.

"I just wanted you to know. . .I always thought of you as a father. I never knew my own. . .and well, you're the closest thing I ever had to one."

"Shepard. . .thank you. Truth is, I always wanted kids of my own. Now I may never get the chance. You've always been. . .like a daughter to me. And I couldn't be more proud of you. You did good child, you did good" he breathed, his dark brown eyes slowly beginning to close.

"Anderson? Come on, hang in there Anderson. Fight" Shepard croaked, her teeth clenched in pain.

The admiral she had grown to love, grown to admire as a replacement to the father she was never able to know. It had felt like years since he'd been able to sit down, and as permanent rest began to envelope him, Shepard closed her eyes and prayed. Prayed for him to be taken into paradise, where he could spend his days in peace; away from war, away from fighting.

"No Anderson. . .thank _you_."

"Shepard" a familiar voice rang out over the console. "Shepard, the cannon's not firing. It's gotta be something on your end" said admiral Hackett.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked, falling to the floor. She tried to stand, but did so in vain as her knees buckled, sending her to her stomach; forcing her to crawl in anguished pain towards the flashing console. "Just need to. . ."

"Shepard" Hackett called again, his voice tense.

"Can't. . ." Shepard collapsed, her body finally giving in as she closed her eyes and drifted in unconscienceness.

"Why are you here?" a tiny voice called, almost sounding slightly annoyed at the strange woman's presence.

"What? Where am I?" Shepard asked as she slowly regained her balance, pushing herself onto her feet.

"The citadel. It's my home" the voice replied.

Shepard cast her eyes to the voice's presence, nearly prepared to fall back to her knees in shock as she stared into what seemed to be a transparent reflection of the small boy who constantly plagued her dreams.

"Who are you?" she asked, though slightly afraid of the answer.

"I am the catalyst" he answered simply.

"I thought the citadel was the catalyst."

"No, the citadel is part of me."

"I need to stop the reapers. Do you know how I can do that?" she asked desperately.

"The reapers are mine. I control them. They are my solution."

"Solution? To what?" she asked confusedly.

"Chaos. You bring it on yourselves" he mocked. "The created will always rebel against their creators. But we found a way to stop that from happening; a way to restore order for the next cycle."

"By wiping out organic life?" Shepard growled.

"No, we harvest advanced civilizations, leaving the younger one's alone, just as we left your people alive the last time we were here."

"But you killed the rest."

"We helped them ascend, so they could make way for new life, storing ther old life in reaper form."

"I think we'd rather keep our own form."

"No, you can't. Without us to stop it, synthetics will destroy all organics. We created the cycle so that never happens. That's the solution."

Shepard clutched her side in pain, her hand wrapped around a pistol; unsure of how it got there. The catalyst simply stared. Was he playing her a fool this entire time? Even on Earth? What other explanation was there? She had played right into his hands.

"So what happens now?"

"That depends on you. You can wipe out all synthetic life if you want, but even you are partly synthetic."

"But the reapers will be destroyed?"

"Yes, but the peace won't last. Soon your children will create synthetics and the chaos will come back."

"Maybe. . ." she pondered.

"Or do you think you can control us?"

"Control you? I'd rather die" she growled. "You're trying to play me; trying to make me a pawn in your little game, just like you did the Illusive Man. Lucky for me, I'm not as naive" she grimaced.

"He couldn't control us. He tried, but he failed."

"But I can?" Shepard asked amused.

"Yes, but you will die."

"I came into this knowning I wouldn't make it out" she answered somberly. "But for _my _children, I'm gonna make sure they live in a world without the reapers influence."

"The choice is yours."

The citadel, if it could even be called as such, looked like nothing more than a war machine. A pulse of energy eruputed from the center of its core, branching upward as far as the eye could see and on either side lay the fate the galaxy; all of it at Shepard's fingertips. She could destroy the reapers and end their torment, but the lives of EDI and Legion, not to mention every synthetic "life" would come to an end, or she could control them, seemingly making her their master and always knowing they would still technically be in existence.

"It's been made" she stuttered, limping to her destiny. She fired her pistol once, twice, three times as her stride became stronger with every loosened bullet.

_I need to know you're always coming back. . ._

_I'm always coming back. . ._

The catalyst disappeard instantly as the final bullet found it's mark. Shepard covered her eyes as the shrapnel began to fly and for a moment she felt as if her entire body was being torn apart. It was an explosion that was heard around the world; one that forced millions of heads to turn towards the sky; millions of knees to drop to the ground in gratitude; millions of eyes to shed tears. Though perhaps the bluest of them all shed them straight into her heart.


	2. Chapter 2

"Liara, you've been sitting in that same spot in that same position for three days now. Why don't you go and stretch your legs?" said Doctor Chakwas, looking up from her datapad.

"I can't leave her" she answered softly, gently wiping away the hair from Shepard's eyes. "You always were one to have stray hair" she smiled, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Liara. . ." Chakwas began, setting the datapad down and wrapping a supportive arm around the asari's shoulders. "Liara, I promise I'll take good care of her. She is my commander after all" she finished with a smile.

"She made a promise to me. I just want to make sure she keeps it."

"She will."

"You hear that Shepard?" Liara asked, gently taking her lover's battered and bloody hand in her own. "You keep your promise and come back to me. I need you" she whispered as she placed their hands together midway down her stomach. "Our daughter needs you" she begged.

Chakwas relented, squeezing Liara's shoulder one final time as she left the room without a word.

Nothing could have prepared the asari for the sight she had been forced to see. Her commander, her friend, her bondmate had been pried from the ruins of Earth. Garrus had found her, buried beneath piles of rubble; a shard of rebar protruding from her back. . .

_The battle seemed to have stopped as soon as it began. An explosion, of nuclear proportions ripped the sky in half sending every soldier quaking to their feet. The field itself was littered with bodies; broken, battered and bloodied beyond repair, moans of pain issuing from their lips as they slowly drifted into death. A beam erupted from the core of the citadel, a blinding light erupting from its center that brought the whole of the structure down upon the broken ground. Out of the thousands of foot-soldiers that were ordered to hold their position in the southern vicinity of the field; only two would walk out unscathed._

_A mountain of rubble slowly began to shift as a living, breathing, body moved beneath. Garrus opened his eyes to see blue as blood from his forehead dribbled into his vision, beginning to sting. It was hard to remember exactly what had happened. One minute he was running for his life, the next, he was running after Shepard. There was no use in even trying to guess how long he had been out, but the numbing pain in his shoulder told him it had been for a few hours; his adrenaline was slowly starting to fade. He looked around, scanning the piles of rubble for any sign of his crew. Had Shepard made it to the citadel? Was she even alive? And what of James? Liara? They had been right behind him but they were nowhere to be found. _

_"James" Garrus gasped, but his voice seemed to fade him._

_Garrus closed his eyes trying to remember something, anything of what had happened. A light; a flashing red light filled his vision, as a horrible creaking rang through the air. The reaper. It cast it's terrifying shadow over the entire surface, blasting every trace of life into oblivion. James had been right beside him, liara right beside James, but the rest of his memory began to fail him as Garrus rubbed his head, wiping the blood from his eyes. There was no telling how far away they were from him now, if they even survived. No, he couldn't think that. They were his crew, they were Shepard's crew and she would never let anything happen to them. They were here, he just had to find them. _

_"James" he called again, his voice gaining a small bit of strength as he cleared his throat. _

_Nothing stirred. _

_"Rodriguez, take those barriers off the comm tower, then get on it and see if you can find anyone" Jack called, motioning her student. _

_"Aye, Ma'am."_

_"Pressley, check for survivors."_

_"Ma'am" he replied, with a simple salute. _

_Jack ran her fingers through her hair, but quickly drew it back as a wave of pain burst in her arm. _

_"Fuck. . ." she groaned in annoyance. "Rodriguez, hurry up with those barriers!" she barked. _

_"Comm tower's good to go Ma'am" she replied, securing her omni tool as she climbed down the ladder. _

_Jack opened her own omni tool. "Hello. . .this is Jack. Is anyone out there?" she called, waiting in silence as a reply refused to follow. "I repeat, is anyone out there?" she tried again, but to no avail. "Dammit!"_

_"No survivors that I could find Ma'am" said Pressley somberly, carefully strolling back to join his teacher._

_"Well check again!" Jack snapped, pointing her finger back in the direction of the bodies._

_Pressley shook his head and lowered it as Rodriguez gave him a nod to follow orders. _

_Garrus omni tool began to buzz, stirring him back into conscienceness. He shut his eyes for what he believed had only been seconds, but in truth, he had been out for hours. He rolled his head to one side as his arm began to tingle from the presence of a radio signal; muffled voices yelling in the background. He recognized one immediately as Jack. Painfully, he lifted his arm; the orange glow beginning to form as his tool took shape. _

_"Come on! Somebody answer me dammit!" Jack yelled annoyed. _

_"Jack. . ." Garrus breathed, as the biotic instantly grew silent._

_"Garrus?" she asked quickly "You ok?"_

_"Been. . .better" he stammered, gripping his shoulder. "Haven't seen anyone else though" he added sadly._

_"And Shepard?"_

_"Nothing."_

_The com grew silent once more as Jack sighed and rubbed her temples._

_"Where are you Garrus?" she asked, motioning for her students to file in line._

_"Not sure. Ended up next to a mako."_

_"Can you see the comm tower?"_

_Garrus strained his eyes to the sky. "I can see what's left of one."_

_"Then you're close to my location. Gonna send some help your way, so just hang tight."_

_"I'll try not to go anywhere" he replied sarcastically, though he was grateful for any assistance she was willing to lend. It wasn't like Jack to help people, but war changes people. Even the strongest soldiers learn to cry in the brink of battle. Subject Zero may not have resorted to tears, but deep in her heart, an appreciation began to manifest itself. She had her students to thank for that, but her crew even more. Shepard always gave her a chance; never judged her for anything and now she was lost. Jack may not have been able to find her commander, but finding her squad would be the next best thing. _

_"Rodriguez, Pressley, front and center!" she barked. The students filed in place, stick straight as they awaited their orders. "You two are in charge for the time being. Got some friends out there who need some help and I plan on getting it to them. So stay here and don't do anything stupid until I get back" she ordered. _

_"Don't sweat it teach" Rodriguez joked, crossing her arms with a smile._

_"Don't make me regret this" Jack whispered, squinting her eyes. _

_Rodriguez held up her hands in surrender as Pressley chuckled next to her. _

_"Alright, be back in a few. If I find anything, I'll radio you" she added, leaping over a mountain of rubble and landing with a dull and dusty thud as her boots shook the Earth._

After re-reading my previous attempt at this: I decided that it sucked horribly and drastically needed a change. So, I'm going to make it much longer by splitting it into more chapters. The new version will have a lot more background information about things that happened behind the scenes. Bear with me lol I despise plot holes and felt I needed to fully give ME3 the ending it deserves. Hopefully, this new version will be much better. :D


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